In their fourth attempt of the season, the Blue Devils finally have a road victory.
Despite a late comeback attempt from Georgetown, No. 10 Duke (7-3) rode a strong offensive performance, defeating No. 18 Georgetown (4-3) 13-11 Saturday afternoon at Multi Sport Field.
Offensively, Duke received strong performances from senior Robert Rotanz, who netted four goals, junior Josh Offit, who scored two and added an assist, and sophomores Jordan Wolf and Christian Walsh, who both added two goals.
In the first quarter, the Blue Devils and the Hoyas traded goals to fight to an even 3-3 score.
“They were switching in and out of man and zone,” head coach John Danowski said. “We were very patient in our zone offense. We were aggressive when it was appropriate and patient when it was appropriate.”
That zone offense proved effective as the Blue Devils extended their lead by five in fewer than five minutes in the second quarter. Rotanz started the scoring onslaught followed by contributions from senior Justin Turri, Wolf, Offit and another from Rotanz.
The third quarter returned to the back-and-forth scoring of the first period, with Duke coming out with a 13-6 advantage. The Blue Devils held Georgetown scoreless for almost 20 minutes from the second quarter to the third.
The tide changed entering the fourth quarter as the Hoyas scored five consecutive goals while holding Duke scoreless. Georgetown’s Travis Comeau and Francis McDonough led the Hoya offense netting three and two goals, respectively, in the game.
Their seven goal lead was enough, however, to carry them through the Georgetown rally. Although Danowski attributed the scoring drought to a lack of poise, he cited the strong performances of a number of players—notrably junior goalie Dan Wigrizer–in leading the team to victory.
“We threw the ball away twice with an extra man and failed to clear several times—so it wasn’t any one person involved but a whole bunch of guys,” Danowski said. “We were delighted with the performance of Rotanz once again, Offit, and Lawson. Wigrizer played well in the fourth quarter when he needed to by making four saves. But everybody made a lot of contributions through the 60 minutes.”
Defensively, Georgetown’s 20 minute scoring drought was the longest enforced by Duke this season. Wigrizer ended the game with nine saves.
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